Feminist Economics invites submissions of papers and short discussions for a special issue on AIDS, Sexuality, and Economic Development. We encourage scholars in all disciplines as well those involved in NGO and governmental work to submit abstracts (suggested length 1-2 pages). The deadline for submission was March 1, 2006. Late abstract submissions may be considered at the discretion of the editors. If the editors accept the abstract, the completed manuscript will be due on October 15, 2006.

In 2004, women and girls for the first time comprised half of the 39.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. The feminization of the AIDS epidemic has been most dramatic in the developing world, where HIV rates are rising rapidly. Nowhere is this more true than in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly 60 percent of those infected with HIV are women, and where young women are often more than three times as likely to be infected as young men. Biologically, women are more vulnerable than men to HIV infection. But the interplay of gender and socioeconomic inequality is also key to understanding the growing proportion of infected women. The lack of access to formal and informal labor markets, property rights, schooling, and healthcare all influence the chances of infection. Women's control over their own bodies, notions of sexuality, economic status, and social and group norms vary greatly both across and within countries, complicating attempts at prevention and treatment. These are, in turn, all affected by the AIDS epidemic. Relatively little research has been done on how the AIDS epidemic is affecting women's control over their own bodies. Much of the work looking at the impact of AIDS on economic development issues has focused on the impacts on children, especially children's schooling. Other impacts critical to women's lives and economics more broadly are yet to be raised. The special issue would seek to generate a more robust understanding of AIDS, sexuality, and economic development with the hope of facilitating more effective responses to the epidemic. The papers do not have to focus on women, but must explicitly consider gender issues.

Possible topics and approaches include:

• Consideration of the intersection of race, ethnicity, caste, class, and gender in the spread of HIV/AIDS, the impacts of the epidemic, and formulating effective HIV prevention and treatment policy
• Case studies of successful HIV treatment and prevention policies and examination of the impact of regional and national policies on women
• The increasing prevalence of HIV infection among young, married women
• Impact of unequal access to information about HIV transmission and prevention
• The role of specific economic activities, including mining, trucking, and commercial sex, on HIV transmission patterns within and between countries
• Relationships between debt, international trade policies, and structural adjustment and the AIDS epidemic
• Development, pricing and production of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment options
• Impact of intellectual property protections and global trading rules on treatment possibilities for women
• Mother-to-child transmission of HIV and the impact of AIDS orphans on social and economic structures
• Reproductive rights, sexuality, and HIV prevention
• Impacts of increasing numbers of child-headed households and grandparent-headed households
• Feminist models of intra-household bargaining
• Application of the capabilities approach to the AIDS epidemic and responses to it
  Analysis of past or ongoing epidemics such as tuberculosis and malaria, as well as their interconnection with the AIDS epidemic
• Masculinity and the Transmission of AIDS
• Critical perspectives on the economics of sexual violence and crime
• Meta-studies such as those finding macro lessons from small-scale, NGO initiatives
• Benchmark studies of emerging epidemics and regional patterns
• Strategies to improve health outcomes, outreach, and social change
• The role of women and girls in providing caring labor for those affected by HIV/AIDS
• The political economy of responses to AIDS by donors, NGOs, governments, etc.

Please direct queries and abstracts to Guest Editors Cecilia Conrad or Cheryl Doss.

Final papers (after approval of abstracts) should be submitted to
Feminist Economics through the submissions website

http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rfec.

Questions about these procedures may be sent to
feministeconomics@rice.edu

Phone : +1.713.348.4083

Fax : +1.713.348.5495

September 14, 2006.